he Kimbell Museum in Forth Worth, designed by Louis I. Kahn
and built in 1972, has become in the years since its construction
an iconic building of modernist Architecture. Its vault-shaped
bays washed by diffused daylight have become one of the best
known and loved examples of Kahn’s approach to building, which
celebrates the qualities of light and material.
The architect chosen to design an addition to it was therefore faced with
a daunting task: how to meet the museum’s needs for more space without
overwhelming the subtlety and simplicity of the original building with a very
large structure or a complex form, but also to create a space that can stand
up to the overwhelming architectural presence of the original museum.
Renzo Piano accomplished both of these goals in the design of what has
come to be called the Piano Pavilion, a freestanding structure facing the
original Kimbell across a great lawn.
In order to achieve his goals, Piano studied Kahn’s Kimbell building
obsessively. Nearly every architectural aspect of the building, from plan to
construction details to systems integration, is in some way a response to
an analogous feature of the original building. At every turn Piano sought to
design a building that was the equal of Kahn’s in subtlety, but one degree less
forceful in its monumentality. Above all, Piano sought to create a space that
speaks the same language as Kahn. His pavilion evokes many of the same
qualities of timelessness and direct contact with the human condition that
Kahn’s building so masterfully constructs. Piano thus keeps the focus of the
museum complex on the original building while at the same time deepening
and extending Kahn’s extraordinary accomplishment.

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5

INTRODUCTION

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

KAY AND VELMA KIMBELL

After making his initial fortune in the milling business in Forth Worth, Texas,
Kay Kimbell and his wife Velma became interested in art, and began buying
Old Master paintings in the early 1930’s. Realizing that they could create
something more than just a private collection, in 1935 they organized the
Kimbell Art Foundation to steward the collection after their deaths and
eventually build a “world class art museum” in Fort Worth.
After Kay’s death in 1964, Richard F. Brown was appointed the first director
of the Kimbell Art Museum, with a mission to procure for the Kimbell
collection a building worthy of the art it would hold. Though he considered
several leading architects of the day, including I. M. Pei and Mies van der
Rohe, Brown was persuaded in 1966 that Louis I. Kahn should be the
architect of the new museum.
Above: Portrait of Kay and Velma Kimbell
Right: Richard F. Brown Looking at Kahn’s Drawings of The Kimbell Art Museum
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INTRODUCTION

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

Louis Kahn was at the height of his career in 1966, with commissions for the
parliament building of Bangladesh and the Indian Institute of management
recently completed, and the commission for the Yale Museum of British
art a few years in the future. As an architect who was both revising and
deepening the achievements of architectural modernism, he was a natural
choice for a client who wanted a building to become as much of an
attraction as the collection itself. Brown particularly admired the way that
Kahn talked about nature and natural light. The idea natural light in the
exhibit spaces became a key concept in Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design for the museum, and
eventually for Renzo Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design of his addition to the museum as well.
Above: Early Sketch of The Kimbell Art Museum Daylighting Strategy by Louis Kahn
Top Right: The Kimbell Art Museum
Bottom Right: Double-Height Vault at The Kimbell Art Museum

Under new leadership, another expansion plan was considered. Renzo
Piano was hired to design a separate building facing the original
museum across the lawn.

1989 - FIRST SCHEME

The architect Romaldo Giurgola, who had worked in Kahn’s office
for many years, was chosen to design an addition for the museum.
Giurgola’s plan, which involved extending the building’s cycloid vaults to
the north and south, was met with nearly universal dismay and criticism,
however, and after a number of prominent architects denounced the
plan in a letter to the New York Times, the museum canceled the project.

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9

INTRODUCTION
LOUIS KAHN

ABOUT LOUIS KAHN
1901-1974
Louis Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is known for its monumentality, achieved through
symmetry, the use of simple, often monolithic forms, and above all through
attention to the light of the sun. He is broadly considered to be among the
great innovators of Modern architecture. Though not one of Modernismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
early pioneers, he was among the first modern architects to return to an
understanding of the importance of symbolism and a sense of timelessness
in Architecture.
Famous also for his use of materials, he frequently used textured brick
and concrete, along with millworked wood and refined surfaces such as
travertine.
Kahn also worked very closely with engineers and contractors on his
buildings, which resulted in very technically innovative and refined designs
such as the library at Phillips Exeter academy and at the Salk Institute in La
Jolla, California.

ABOUT RENZO PIANO (b. 1937)
Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), based in Genoa, Italy, was selected
as the architect for the Kimbell Art Museum pavilion, an addition to be
situated across the great lawn from the original museum.
Piano worked in Kahn’s office for a year, 1968-69, and many critics
have noticed the influence Kahn had on Piano’s later work, noted like
Kahn’s for fineness of detailing and attention to natural light. His firm is
particularly well known for museums and museum additions, and had
already completed twenty-one of them by 2013, when the pavilion was
completed. Museum curators like the firm’s work because it “lets the art
speak.”
In addition, Piano worked in Kahn’s office in 1968-1969. So in more ways
than one, Piano was the most qualified architect to “create a structure that
engages in a dialogue with his mentor’s masterwork, without replicating
the gestures of his other Kahn nods.”
Above Top: Renzo Piano on site with the museum’s Board of Directors
Above: Piano’s concept sketch of the pavilion
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11

INTRODUCTION

TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS MUSEUM WORKS

1980

1987 - THE MENIL COLLECTION
HOUSTON TEXAS

Common Elements:
Roof system to filter natural light, Courtyards

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1985

1990

1997 - THE BEYELER FOUNDATION
BASEL SWITZERLAND

Common Elements:
Roof system to filter natural light, Courtyards

1995

2005 - THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART
ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Common Elements:
Roof system to filter natural light, Large open lobby, Courtyards

2000

2005

2003 - THE NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER
DALLAS, TEXAS

Common Elements:
Roof system to filter natural light, Courtyards, Structure integrated with
lighting, sound, and irrigation system

2010

2009 - THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Common Elements:
Roof system to filter natural light, Large open lobby, Courtyards

2015

2012 - ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Common Elements:
Significant natural light, Large open lobby

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13

INTRODUCTION
SITE LOCATION

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INTRODUCTION
ABOUT FORT WORTH

30%-40%

Typical
American Climate
TYPICAL AMERICAN CLIMATE
The Fort Worth climate is significantly sunnier than average for the United
States. According to NOAA, 64% of daylight hours see direct sun. This
compares to 30-40% that is more typical for American climates.

The Fort Worth climate is significantly su
than average for the United States. Acco
to NOAA, 64% of daylight hours see dir
sun. This compares to 30-40% that is m
typical for American climates. The Piano
ion accepts this difference as a challenge
well as an opportunity. On the one hand
radiant heat gain will be a significant cha
for any structure built in Fort Worth. On
other hand, it opens up daylighting strate
that would not be available in cloudier
climates. Piano makes use of these strate
through his multi-layered roof, which eff
ly blocks direct solar radiant heat gain w
allowing for significant daylight autonom
throughout the pavilion.

64%

Fort Worth Climate

FORT WORTH CLIMATE

The Piano Pavilion accepts this difference as a challenge as well as an
opportunity. On the one hand, solar radiant heat gain will be a significant
challenge for any structure built in Fort Worth. On the other hand, it opens
up daylighting strategies that would not be available in cloudier climates.
Piano makes use of these strategies through his multi-layered roof, which
effectively blocks direct solar radiant heat gain while allowing for significant
daylight autonomy throughout the pavilion.

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15

INTRODUCTION

THE MUSEUM CAMPUS

A
16

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B

C

D

INTRODUCTION

THE MUSEUM CAMPUS

A

Amon Carter Museum - Built 1961
Architect: Phillip Johnson

B

The Piano Pavilion - Built 2013
Architect: Renzo Piano

C

The Kimbell Art Museum - Built 1972
Architect: Louis Kahn

D

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth - Built 2002
Architect: Tadao Ando

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17

PA RT I I
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN OLD AND NEW
THE PIANO PAVILION AND THE KIMBELL IN DIALOGUE

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R

enzo Piano’s strategy in designing an addition to the Kimbell
Museum begins with an almost obsessive attention to the original
building. Almost every feature of the Piano Pavilion is a response
to a particular feature of the Kahn building, and almost every
feature of the Kahn building has its counterpart in the Piano
Pavilion. The aim of this approach is not to slavishly reproduce the effects
of Kahn’s building but rather to ensure that the museum complex forms a
harmonious unity, with the addition in a subservient role but nonetheless
a true partner of the original building, able to speak the same architectural
language.
The two buildings establish a kind of architectural conversation, with the
visitor to the Museum playing the role of happy eavesdropper. Themes that
will be found in full force in Kahn’s building are foreshadowed in Piano’s, and
qualities of space common to both buildings are subtly inflected to provide a
different experience in each.
Piano returns to one particular relationship, however, again and again
throughout his building: like Kahn he strives for monumentality, and in
particular a kind of timelessness. However, at each turn the monumentality
found in the Piano Pavilion is of a different kind than that of the Kahn
building, and in every case the difference serves to prioritize the original
building. Where Kahn uses a vault shape, Piano uses the less grand post-andbeam system; where Kahn employs a loggia, Piano uses a mere overhang;
Kahn uses a masonry plinth, while the plain earth is grand enough for Piano.
Through the use of these relationships, Piano has created a building that
serves as something like a forecourt or a lobby for the original building.
It is meant to be a place that can house art in its own right, but also a
transitional space which prepares the visitor to walk across the great lawn
into Kahn’s inimitable museum.

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19

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
EVOKING THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

“Renzo Piano’s addition to Louis Kahn’s celebrated museum is a study in careful
deference...Piano yields pride of place to the master.”
Witold Rybczynski, Design Critic

“The pavilion was designed to evoke the original structure both architecturally
and structurally while establishing its own unique identity. The two buildings
together define a vision of excellence as creative as the artwork that each
displays.”
Guy Nordenson and Associates, Structural Engineer

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
EVOKING THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

What was your approach to the Kimbell project? It must have been a
challenge to build alongside Kahn’s structure.
Piano: It took me some time to understand. I was told that the Kahn building was untouchable. Adding to the original master plan was difficult,
so the only solution was to do something else. I started to think about
designing another building across the street. Then I thought, What about
putting the new building at a certain distance, in dialogue with Kahn’s?
In some ways, the new pavilion is the opposite of Kahn’s. It’s open, it’s accessible. It’s actually there to show Kahn’s building. We struggled a lot when we
were designing it. We measured the distance for where we wanted it—too
far, too close. Then we started to find the solution.
The client was fantastic. Clients are so important. A good client doesn’t tell
you to do what you want. A good client is someone who struggles together
with you. And a good client is someone who trusts you—if you’re trustable.
Did your experience in Kahn’s office inform some of the decisions you
made with the Kimbell project?
Piano: No. When I was in Kahn’s office, I was working on the fifth floor on
only one job: a factory in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for Olivetti-Underwood
type- writers. The reason I was in Kahn’s office was that, for a short time, I
was in a class taught by Robert Le Ricolais at the University of Pennsylvania, researching lightweight structures—my passion. I was assisting Ricolais, breaking cables, doing funny things like that. Kahn and I had met a
number of times at Ricolais’s house on campus, and one day he asked me
to come over to his office. So I went there, started to sketch. I loved Kahn,
that little man who was so strong, so persistent, so devoted.

The Kimbell named the pavilion after you, to differentiate it from the
Kahn structure and to honor you.
Yeah, so that it’s absolutely unique. I’m mad about that. But anyway, the
pavilion is just a shelter, and when you look east, you see Kahn’s building. For
me, it’s absolutely evident that it’s a natural observation point for the Kahn
building and for the lawn. The idea was to make it one campus, and the lawn
was a kind of roofless room in between the two. When this enters into the
day-to-day life of Fort Worth, the two buildings work in synchrony.
In some projects, you have to be extremely careful.You don’t have to limit
your creativity; you just have to apply your creativity in a different way.
Interview with Piano by Spencer Bailey for Surfacemag.come

What does it mean to you to be in dialogue with his Kimbell building?
Piano: My building complements what Kahn’s does. His building is introverted; mine is extroverted. We didn’t destroy the lawn. It’s big enough to play
Frisbee on, to enjoy, to eat sandwiches on. The new building flies on the
ground.
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21

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - MATERIALS

Concrete Columns

Travertine Infill Panels

Oak Floors
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CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - MATERIALS

Glass Roof

Concrete Walls and Columns

Oak Floors
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23

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - BUILDING SCALE

LONG LOW PROFILE
Kahn’s original building faced strict height restrictions so as not to block the
view of the Fort Worth skyline from Philip Johnson’s Amon Carter Museum
HALF OF THE PROGRAM IS UNDERGROUND

ABOVE GROUND

UNDERGROUND

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - BUILDING SCALE

LONG LOW PROFILE
Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s addition to the Kimbell is slightly shorter than the original building
so as not to compete with it in visual scale
MORE THAN HALF OF THE PROGRAM IS UNDERGROUND

ABOVE GROUND

UNDERGROUND AND/OR UNDER GREEN ROOF

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25

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - TRIPARTITE PLAN

Kahn’s Kimbell museum has a tripartite plan comprising three sets of
102-foot Cycloid Vault Bays. The central mass is recessed, forming a kind of
modern forecourt to enhance visitors’ sense of entering a significant public
space.

26

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - TRIPARTITE PLAN

Similarly, the Piano pavilion has a tripartite plan comprising three sets of
102-foot beams. The three main masses in plan line up with the three masses
in Kahn’s museum, creating a sense of dialogue or counterpoint across
the great lawn. As with the original building, the pavilion’s central mass is
recessed, though much less so than in the original building. This comports
with Piano’s general pattern in the pavilion of using moves similar to Kahn’s,
but in a more subdued manner.

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27

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - COURTYARDS & PROMENADES
Courtyards formed by the removal of parts of certain bays form an
important part of the visitor’s experience to the Kimbell, in forming
exceptions to the otherwise unrelieved symmetry of the building’s plan.
The promenade at the building’s West front is also important in providing
a shaded buffer between outside and inside as well as heightening a sense
of civic importance and monumentality.

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - COURTYARDS & PROMENADES

The Piano pavilion does not have any courtyards strictly speaking, but the
narrow gap between the eastern and west halves of the building provides
a sense of enclosure in an outdoor space. Like Kahn, Piano allows an
additional structural bay to extend beyond the building’s envelope, once
again forming a shaded buffer between inside and outside, and once
again in Piano’s case recapitulating Kahn’s device in a more subdued, less
monumental manner.

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - CIRCULATION FROM PARKING
Kahn, who lived in Philadelphia for most of his life and never learned to
drive, did not consider that most visitors to the Kimbell would be arriving
by car. Consequently, he tucked the parking lot behind the building next
to a basement entrance, with the result that most visitors simply ignored
the grand entrance on the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West front and entered through the
basement.

INTENDED PATHWAY (BY ARCHITECT)
ACTUAL PATHWAY

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CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - CIRCULATION FROM PARKING

One of the major goals of the addition was to modify the entrance sequence
for visitors who arrived in cars. This was accomplished by the excavation of
a parking garage under the lawn between the original museum and the Piano
Pavilion. The garage elevators and stairs empty into the lobby of the pavilion,
which then serves as a kind of staging ground for approaching the original
museum as Kahn intended, across the lawn, from the West.

INTENDED PATHWAY (BY ARCHITECT)
ACTUAL PATHWAY

ENTRY
PARKING

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31

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - INTERIOR CIRCULATION

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM
A set of double stairs in the Kimbell allow for a ceremonial passage between
upper and lower floors without diminishing the privileged position of the
upper floor, as well as providing a site for one of the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most famous
details, the folded metal hand-rail.

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - INTERIOR CIRCULATION

THE PIANO PAVILION
The double stairs in Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pavilion are among the many direct formal
quotations of the Kahn building, though their function is different. They serve
to bring visitors from the garage to the main floor of the building, and do so
without privileging the pavilion, as they would if the stairs ran axially to the
East as they rose, or ignoring the pavilion as a distinct building, as they would
if the stairs ran axially to the West towards the Kahn building.

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33

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - ROOF FORM

The profile of the repeated curve of the cycloid vaults is one
of the most immediate formal impressions of the Kimbell
Museum.

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CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - ROOF FORM

Piano pays homage to Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s repeated vaults, but in a subdued voice, with
his gently curved panels of glass that form the roof profile of the pavilion.

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35

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - STRUCTURE

Groin Vault at Trajan Market
ARCUATED
Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of the vault form in the Kimbell is complex. On the one
hand, as in much of his work there is a gesture to ancient, even primeval,
relationships between humans and the natural world. In the West, the vault
immediately evokes thoughts of Roman Architecture in particular, with its
connotations of permanence, publicness and grandeur. However, the vaults
are only vaults at a visual level. By resting their corners on beams, rather
than on continuous walls, Kahn is complicating, perhaps even subverting,
their monumental effect.

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CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

Diagram of Vault

Kimbell Art Museum Cycloid Vault

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - STRUCTURE

Stonehenge

Diagram of Post and Beam

The Piano Pavilion

TRABEATED
The most striking formal analogy between the two buildings is Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
choice of a post-and-beam system. Like vaults, the post-and-beam system
is extremely old, but rather than grandeur and publicness it connotes
simplicity and straightforwardness. The system takes on a monumental
appearance in the Piano pavilion, but in a more subdued and less dramatic
manner than the original building. Moreover, like Kahn, Piano takes pains
to complicate his invocation of a historic building method, in this case by
using pin joints to hold the beams off the posts they would be expected to
rest on top of.
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37

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - STRUCTURE

DOUBLE COLUMN + SINGLE BEAM
Kahn uses a system of double columns that provides a space between
vaulted bays, each column supporting a single beam-end (the vaults here
appearing in their actual structural role as beams)

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CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - STRUCTURE

SINGLE COLUMN + DOUBLE BEAM
Piano employs a device that makes reference to Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s without imitating
him. Instead of a double column, Piano uses a double beam, resting on a
single column per pair of beam-ends.

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39

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - SYSTEMS + STRUCTURE INTEGRATION
ELECTRICAL & SUPPLY AIR BETWEEN DOUBLE COLUMNS
The space between Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s double columns is significant in the building
as a servant space, a less-expressive architectural zone that can serve as a
space for mechanical systems or circulation. Specifically, technologies that
help make the building a functional space, such as supply air vents and
lighting, are generally cordoned off within this servant zone.

40

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE PIANO PAVILION - SYSTEMS + STRUCTURE INTEGRATION
ELECTRICAL BETWEEN DOUBLE BEAMS
Though working with an even tighter servant space than Kahn, Piano
manages to fit a great deal of technology between his double beams. As in
Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s building, this servant space cordons off technology for lighting and
sprinklering the space.

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41

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - SYSTEMS + STRUCTURE INTEGRATION
ELECTRICAL & SUPPLY AIR BETWEEN DOUBLE COLUMNS
In general, both Kahn and Piano manage to integrate their mechanical
systems into gaps left by structural systems. In the Kimbell, air is supplied
near the top of the columns and air returns through a reveal between the
oak floor and travertine wall.

SUPPLY AIR

RETURN AIR

42

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

Comparing Structure and Ducts.
Air being supplied from the top. Return
Travertine is well insulated.. not structu
Ducts btw the beams.
Sorry d

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE PIANO PAVILION - SYSTEMS + STRUCTURE INTEGRATION
Comparing Structure and Ducts.
Air being supplied from the top. Return air is bottom of the wall
ELECTRICAL & SUPPLY AIR BETWEEN DOUBLE COLUMNSTravertine is well insulated.. not structure.
Ducts btw the beams.
Sorry didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give you a whole lot of room to write.
In general, both Kahn and Piano manage to integrate their mechanical

systems into gaps left by structural systems. However, Piano does the
opposite of Kahn by supplying air through the floor and returning air
through a reveal at the top of the concrete shear wall.
By doing this Piano is utilizing the natural buoyancy of warm air and the
thermal plumes generated by heat sources as cooler air is delivered from
lower elevations.

SUPPLY AIR

RETURN AIR

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - FILTERED DAYLIGHT FROM ABOVE
Perhaps the most important experiential aspect of Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kimbell is the
ubiquitous presence in the galleries of indirect daylight from above,
reflected by half-mirrored aluminum and washed down the curve of the
vaults.

44

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD

THE PIANO PAVILION - FILTERED DAYLIGHT FROM ABOVE
In a sense, many of Renzo Piano’s museums pay homage to Kahn’s Kimbell
with respect to their approach to natural light, but his Kimbell pavilion does
so in a special way. The gentle, twice-filtered light from above has many of
the same qualities as Kahn’s museum.

THE PIANO PAVILION - DAYLIGHT TO LOWER-LEVEL AUDITORIUM
Piano also uses light wells to let light into servant spaces on the lower level
as well as the lower level Auditorium.

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47

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM - DAYLIGHT FROM SIDE

Bright lines of light at the ends of vaults provide a visual contrast with the
filtered light from above, serving as a way also to emphasize the distinction
of the vault from what it rests on. A classic Kahnian detail, it presents light
where the eye naturally expects structure.

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A CONVERSATION BETWEEN NEW & OLD
THE PIANO PAVILION - DAYLIGHT FROM SIDE

Piano does something similar where his beams run parallel to and above the
pavilionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concrete shear walls. The brightness of the admitted light serves to
highlight the independence of the beam system from the wall below it.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

49

PA RT I I I
HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROOF SYSTEM

50

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

R

enzo Piano’s buildings are justly celebrated for their roofs. Beginning with the Menil Collection in Houston, Piano has worked
through variations on a common theme: daylight through the
roof. The roof of the Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell is variation of
that theme that privileges the soft uniformity of daylight and simple, abstracted forms that help create an overall effect of subdued monumentality. The roof is also carefully constructed towards technical ends,
specifically the exclusion of solar radiant heat gain.
Piano skillfully manipulates the roof’s construction details, materials, and performative qualities to create a building that is unapologetically modern and
yet nonetheless evokes a sense of antiquity or timelessness. In this Piano
is following his former mentor, Louis Kahn, whose buildings are famous for
precisely this atmosphere of ancientness or timelessness. In particular, the
Piano Pavilion responds to the age-old human relationship to the sky, which
has in many cultures throughout history both symbolized and embodied
transcendence, permanence, and divinity. Louis Kahn leveraged these associations in the creation of a self-consciously “great” museum, and Piano takes
Kahn’s work as a starting point for his own pavilion.
Especially important are a few key construction details: technology is kept
within a cordon between double beams, construction elements are isolated and distinguished from one another, and above all the visual appearance
of the roof is kept simple and abstract. Because of the simplicity of the
elements, as well as their physical isolation from another, the roof system
evokes ancient trabeated construction while also making clear that this
system is being evoked, not merely copied. The net effect of these efforts is a
building that is undeniably contemporary but also richly evocative.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

51

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
GREEN ROOF VS. ASSEMBLED ROOF

The Piano pavilion has two distinct roof system: one, the more ordinary of
the two, is a green roof, covering the western half of the building. Beneath
the roof are exhibition spaces that require low light as well as a number of
back-of-house spaces. The roof covering the eastern half of the building is
more complex and more central to Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aims for his building.

52

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
ROOF STRUCTURE PRECEDENTS

Renzo Piano is justly famous for his roof assemblies. Many of them,
especially for museum commissions, rely on the same basic idea: use the
roof as the primary means of lighting the interior space of the building.
He uses this strategy in the Beyeler Foundation near Basel, the Menil
Collection in Houston, the Nasher Sculpture Gallery in Dallas, the Art
Institute Addition in Chicago, the High Museum addition in Atlanta, and in
the concert hall in his addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston. Each of the roofs employs a slightly different system for creating
light with a particular character in the spaces below.
1- The Menil Collection, Houston TX
2- The Art Institute, Chicago IL
3- The Nasher Sculpture Center, Houston TX
4- The High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA

1

2

4

3

5
CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

53

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER

Of all Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous roof systems, that of the Beyeler Foundation is
perhaps most similar to the one employed at the Kimbell. However,
because of its geographic proximity and its contrasting character, a further
investigation of the Nasher Sculpture Gallery roof is worthwhile.
Since the Kimbell and the Nasher share a hot, sunny, climate, both take
pains to block the tremendous quantity of solar radiation that would pass
through a simply glazed roof. In the Kimbell, this is accomplished chiefly
by louvered solar panels, while in the Nasher a sculptural screen does this
work.
The sculptural screen does additional work as well at the Nasher in shaping
the quality of the light. Specifically, from below the roof appears to visitors as
if it were made of innumerable points of light. On closer inspection, however,
the precise mechanism is entirely revealed to visitors.
The Kimbell pavilion is quite different. The overall effect is that of a
homogeneous plane of light, and the mechanism by which this is
accomplished is entirely hidden in all of the gallery spaces, and only
partially revealed in the lobby.

54

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE BEAMS

The pairs of beams that hold up the roof assembly are an impressive
structural as well as architectural solution. They are laminated timber
beams made of Douglas Fir, spaced at ten-foot intervals and spanning 102
feet (necessitating a cambering process during their construction to keep
deflection within acceptable limits.) The beams are 52 inches deep and 8
inches in width, and the pair of beams are separated with a 16 inch gap,
making the overall dimension 32â&#x20AC;? x 52â&#x20AC;?, with an l/d ratio of 20.
The gravity load from the roof is transfered to the beams, thence to the
concrete columns at the beam ends and then to the foundations.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

55

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
ASSEMBLY OF THE BEAMS AND ROOF SYSTEM

1.

The beams are installed with a slight camber to reduce the
dead load deflection

CONSTRUCTION
BEAMS
CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
BEAMS

1.

1.
1.

BEAMS

2.

Steel cables were attached to each laminated beam at 20’-0”
intervals using slings over the beams. The cables were then
tensioned by anchoring them to the slab below.
The sling is then removed after the installation.

2.

2.
2.

3.

3.
3.

3.

The frame for the roof is then installed on top of the beams.

1. Errect the beams with a slight camber to reduce the dead
load deflection.
56

2.
wire
steel
to
eachcamber
laminated
beam
at
CONNECTING
OLD
ANDcables
NEW:aAN
ANALYSIS
OF THE
PAVILION
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Errect the
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reduce
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4.

4.
4.

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
ASSEMBLY OF THE BEAMS AND ROOF SYSTEM

3.
3.

4.

The glass panels are installed on top of the framing system.
1. Errect the beams with a slight camber to reduce the dead
1.
Errect
the beams with a slight camber to reduce the dead
load
deflection.
load deflection.

4.
4.

2. Attach wire steel cables to each laminated beam at 20’-0”
2.
Attach wire
intervals,
usingsteel cables to each laminated beam at 20’-0”
intervals,
slings overusing
the beams. The cables are then tensioned by
slings
over
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anchoring them
to The cables are then tensioned by
anchoring
them to
the slab below.
the slab below.

5.

3. The structural frame is then installed on top of the beams.
louver panels
installed
on top
of the
glazing.
3. TheThe
structural
frame are
is then
installed
on top
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4. & 5. This is then followed by the glazing and the louvers
4.
& 5. This
is then
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which sits on top of the structural frame.

5.
5.

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ately toThe
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eachtension
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ately
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upon
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installation.
upon
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theprimary
sling will
be removed
along with its
anchorage
to the
structure.
along with its anchorage to the primary structure.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

57

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE PIN JOINT

The connection between the beam-pairs and the concrete columns that
support them is crucial for understanding Piano’s overall goals. First, it is a
modern-looking piece of structure that inhabits the servant space between
the beams, like all the other modern technologies that Piano allows to
appear to visitors.
Second, the pin joint allows Piano to elevate the beams slightly above the
beams that carry them. This gap is very visible to visitors inside the museum,
while the pin joint itself is visible only on the building’s exterior. This gap
accomplishes a number of goals for Piano. First, it simplifies and abstracts
the core structure of the building, as Kahn does by allowing some light
to penetrate between the vaults and the walls that terminate them. This
simplification and abstraction, key for Kahn but used less often by Piano,
contributes to the sense of monumentality, again in a subdued voice as used
by Piano compared to Kahn.
Additionally, the gap also allows Piano to subvert his chosen structure.
Since the whole force carried by the beams in a post-and-beam system
must come to rest on the columns, one would expect the beam-column
connection to appear most solid; instead, one sees only air. This approach
references and pays homage to Kahn’s use of the pseudo-vault, which lacks
the walls necessary to carry the vault forces to the ground.
In general, Piano employs a very different strategy of articulation towards
the sky than he does towards the ground. Above, every interaction between
components is elaborated and articulated, often with gaps present between
components to stress their autonomy. Towards the ground, as will be
discussed further later, joints tend to be concealed or minimized, and
individual components meet flat or flush with each other.

58

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE DOG BONE

The Dog Bone joint is another example of components in the roof
plane being concealed as this connection is on the inside of the beams.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

59

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE ALUMINUM CAPS

The aluminum caps cover miscellaneous screws, washers and the
4.5â&#x20AC;?-diameter aluminum rod that connects the beams. The shape of the
aluminum caps are routed out of the laminated wood beams so that
the caps are flush with the wood face. By covering up the connection
mechanisms, Piano is not cluttering the space with technology and allowing
the structure to be clearly visible. However, he does not take pains to
conceal the technology entirely, which is consistent with his general
approach in the roof plane: he allows technology to have its given place,
and does not take special pains to conceal it; only to prevent it from
overwhelming or distracting from the massive simplicity of the beam system.

60

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
THE HORIZONTAL TRUSSES

The horizontal trusses provide lateral bracing to counteract the lateral
torsional buckling in the beams. These are hidden in the gallery spaces by the
fabric scrim that stretches between the laminated wood beams.
The the rigid steel trusses and the connections between the paired
beams creates a diaphragm to transfer the lateral loads from the eastwest directions. The diaphragm will then transfer the loads in the shortest
direction towards the columns in the far North and south sides. This had
helped to minimize the appearance of the joints and connections in the roof
minimum and let the maximum daylight penetrate into the space.
(Note that lateral loads from the North-South direction, discussed below, are
handled differently.)
Left: Exploded Axon showing dogbone, connections, aluminum caps and trusses
Below: Plan Section Detail of Horizontal Trusses Connection to Beam

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

61

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
DAYLIGHT BETWEEN STRUCTURE

SOLAR PANELS

Sitting just above the glass is a photovoltaic louver system. The photovoltaic
panels can be manually rotated through 180 degrees (so as to protect the
cells from hail), and are generally configured so as the block all direct light
coming from the South.
The engineers for the louver arrays provided the curators with a table listing footcandles expected at various times of year depending on the angle
to which the louvers are raised, at Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request. The solar panels thus
become part of the curatorial arsenal of the space, and do not serve merely to generate electricity and shade the roof, though their contribution to
the energy needs of the building are not insignificant.

FRITTED GLASS

Below the solar panels is a layer of slightly canted fritted glass, with
a white interlayer and an acid etch on the interior surface to reduce
reflections. This glass forms the weather barrier for the roof, and
serves to further diffuse the already indirect northern light entering
the building.

FABRIC SCRIM

A fabric scrim sits below the glass which has two effects: first, it provides
yet another layer of diffusion to the light entering the gallery spaces. Second, it conceals the glass and horizontal trusswork, creating the appearance of a uniform plane of light between the beams. The beams are thus
additionally highlighted, as they are the only dark surfaces of the ceiling
plane.
The scrim is not present in the lobby space, presumably because a brighter
space was desired, and the distracting appearance of the trusses and glass
was less problematic in a space without art to focus on.

62

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

63

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY

ELECTRICAL BETWEEN DOUBLE BEAMS (INSIDE STRUCTURE)

Gallery spaces can be lit primarily with daylight or with electric light.
Spotlights, outfitted with LED lights, and other building systems such as
sprinklers and security cameras are run on tracks positioned in between
the beams. This allows the space between the beams to read as much as
possible as an undifferentiated plane of light. This effect is produced at night
as well, with lights above the wood beams directed at the panes of glass. This
illuminates the building from the exterior as well as providing a source of
indirect light (reflected off the matte interior finish of the glass) to illuminate
the fabric scrims.

64

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY

SPRINKLERS BETWEEN DOUBLE BEAMS (INSIDE STRUCTURE)

There are sprinklers pointed towards the ground to protect the gallery
spaces and sprinklers pointed towards the glass roof to protect the space
between the fabric scrim and the roof. In both cases the sprinklers are
backgrounded.
The sprinklers pointed towards the ground are positioned in between
the laminated wood beams with other building systems like electric lights
and security cameras. This is part of Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general strategy of assigning
technology its particular zone and not allowing it to appear outside that
zone.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

65

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
GUTTERS

Above the double beams are gutters which drain the canted glass, bringing
water to downspouts on both the interior and the exterior of the
building, where they run down behind columns. Even in this invisible-tovisitors condition, the basic logic of running systems between the beams is
maintained.

66

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
GUTTERS

This diagram on the right shows the downspouts coming down through
the shear walls on the interior of the building. The supply and return air
ducts also run through this wall system that exists between the lobby and
main gallery spaces. In this invisible-to-visitors condition, the basic logic
of running systems between the structure is maintained in the vertical
direction.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

67

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
INTERIOR WALLS

The walls between galleries and the lobby provide an interesting
exception-case for some of Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general rules. Rather than running the
beams simply over the walls, the space between the beams and between
the masonry-panel wall and the ceiling is filled. Here he continues his
scheme of showing distinct components in an articulated way. For
instance, a reveal between the infill panels and the masonry-panel walls
allows him to create a return-air vent (return air shown in red) while
simultaneously emphasizing the distinction and difference between the
two wall materials.

68

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

Within this wall construction, supply air rises from the lower-level
mechanical rooms and return air connects to the ducts on the lower level.
This zone also houses water drainage pipes that brings water from the
gutters on the roof to the mechanical spaces on the lower level (in red)
(shown in axon on page 64).
This condition is an exceptional one because Piano has taken pains simply
to conceal what is going on, not to articulate it and assign it to a zone, as
in the normal condition between the beams.

HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY

BEAMS EXTENDING FROM INTERIOR TO EXTERIOR

More expected is the condition where the beams penetrate the glass
outer skin of the building. Here they pass through spandrel panels, which
are in turn held off from the beams by something resembling a gasket.
Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy of distinguishing and articulating components in the
ceiling-roof plane is carried through consistently here; the distinction
between glass and beam is emphasized via the spandrel panel. Moreover
the gasket between panel and beam provides a structural role in isolating
movements in the glass wall from movements in the beam. The glass wall
is able to stand up independently of the beam, including under wind
loads, via glass fins extending into the space.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

69

PA RT I V
THE HIDDEN GROUND

AN ANALYSIS OF THE WALLS AND FLOOR SYSTEM

70

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

I

n the roof of the Piano Pavilion, details are highly articulated, isolated,
and distinguished. For the details in the building that fall below the
roof plane, Piano takes a very different approach. While simplicity and
abstraction remain goals, instead of articulation and distinction all
the details aim for a monolithic quality, with seamless joints and flush
connections.
Among the most celebrated of these monolithic details is the displacement
ventilation system contained within the floor. Small gaps in the tongueand-groove connections between the floorboards allow air to pass slowly
and imperceptibly between air handlers and habitable space. Other details
include registers at the base of each window, which sit flush with the floor
around them and magnets concealed within the floor to serve as doorstops.
This approach to detailing achieves several goals for Piano simultaneously.
First, and most basically, it provides a minimally intrusive environment
for the viewing of art. Without much visible detailing, the visual focus
of the gallery spaces will naturally be the art within them. Second, it
provides a contrast with the highly articulated roof system, so that a clear
contrast between ground and sky is achieved. Third, the ground, especially
when contrasted with the sky, has served as a repository of meaning for
human cultures throughout history, much as the sky has. In contrast to
the permanence and transcendence of the sky, the ground has in many
cultures symbolized transience, especially the transience of life, as well
as immanence, and desire rather than thought. Because visitors to the
pavilion walk above the ground plane and below the roof plane, Piano
is situating them between the ground and the sky, and thus between
immanence and transcendence. This is a natural place in which to place
those objects in which the human condition is especially focused: art.

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71

THE HIDDEN GROUND
CONCRETE COLUMNS

In contrast to the highly articulated manner in which the columns meet
the beams they carry, they meet the ground with an absence of any
visible joint. This accomplishes the intended effect of minimizing the
visual complexity of the building below the roof plane, as well as forming
a contrast with the more monumental treatment of the column bases in
Kahnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s building, which rest on a masonry plinth.
72

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

THE HIDDEN GROUND
INTERIOR WALLS

Interior walls meet the floor also with an almost jointless condition. Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
drawings call for the smallest possible gap between floorboards and walls
compatible with consistent craft. This absence of joint conduces to the sense
that the concrete walls are monolithic, and likewise that the floor is a pure
plane. These help the visitors read the space as simple and undistracting.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

73

THE HIDDEN GROUND
SHEAR WALLS + HVAC

SUPPLY AIR (TYPICAL CONDITION)

Supply air is brought up from lower level and forced through a
plenum. The air moves into the galleries through small gaps in
the concrete metal decking and oak floorboards.

RETURN AIR (TYPICAL CONDITION)

Air returns through reveal at the top of the shear walls near the
roof. The air then moves through cavities in the walls eventually
to air handling units on the Lower Level.
The absence of any visible openings for the air to pass through
are part of Pianoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy to make the ground plane of the
space as unarticulated as possible.

4

6
3

74

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

THE HIDDEN GROUND
THERMOSTATS

So as not to make any technology visible outside of its assigned zone
between the double beams, thermostats for the gallery spaces are
embedded within the concrete walls during construction. This allows the
concrete walls to appear undisturbed by the technology necessary to
maintain the gallery spaces as comfortable environments.

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

75

THE HIDDEN GROUND
FLOOR STRUCTURE + HVAC

THE BREATHING FLOOR
By Woodwright Hardwood Flooring Company
A pressurized plenum underneath the floor feeds air through small gaps in
the floorboards. The plenum is raised about two feet above the structural
concrete slab below.
The micro-beveled CNC white oak boards were prefinished with UV-cured
aluminum oxide finish and laid over sleeper system. There are 5/32nd-inch
spaces between the floorboards to allow sufficient airflow at high volume
and low velocity. This lowers the friction on the floor surface and prevents
occupants of the space from feeling air movement.
Within this plenum are magnets that serve as doorstops, so that no external
visible connection need be made to the floor as would be required with
traditional doorstops.
Upper Left: Detail Photo of consistent gap showing tabs toward the bottom of the flooring
every 12 inches on center.
Lower Left: Sleeper System

"We had a fairly petite woman in our
office wear her highest, smallest heels,
and we tested different-size gaps to test
what would and wouldn't catch."
Larry Burns
Principal at Kendall/Heaton Associates
76

CONNECTING OLD AND NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

THE HIDDEN GROUND
FLOOR STRUCTURE + HVAC

THE TRENCH AIR SUPPLY
A water-based mechanical system supplies hot air along the exterior glass
walls. This prevents condensation on the glass walls. The trench drains
are inset in the floor so that their surface is flush with both the exterior
ground and also the interior oak floors. This creates the impression of
seamlessness throughout the detail.
HOT AIR FROM TRENCH AIR SUPPLY
COLD AIR FROM EXTERIOR GLASS WALL

CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION

77

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks are due to the office of Kendall/Heaton Associates of Houston, TX, the executive architects for the Piano’s
Kimbell Museum addition. They provided the construction documents for the addition at no charge and without their help
this book would not have been possible.

Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
http://www.britannica.com/technology/post-and-lintel-system
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum, https://www.kimbellart.org/architecture/piano-pavilion/piano-films-and-images
Courtsey of Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/technology/post-and-lintel-system
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtesy of Designboom, “piano building sketch”, Renzo Piano, RPBW. 2008.
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/renzo-piano-kimbell-art-museum-piano-pavilion-fort-worth-texas/
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
Courtsey of The Kimbell Art Museum.
PART III: HOW THE BUILDING MEETS THE SKY
Courtesy of Journal Sentinel,
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/44905657.html
Courtesy of Detail Inspiration, Photo from High Museum of Art
http://www.detail-online.com/inspiration/extension-of-the-high-museum-of-art-in-atlanta-103626.html
CONNECTING OLD & NEW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PIANO PAVILION